


Snow Drift

by Acacophony



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Feelings, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-01
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-04 06:42:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5324336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Acacophony/pseuds/Acacophony
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Legion has been dogging Shepard's footsteps since she began investigating Saren. Shepard doesn't understand until they run back into them on Alchera. The ship isn't very strongly implied, the relationship not pre-established.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Snow Drift

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, basically, I really wish that we could have had Legion in ME1. The fact that they geth totally ignored the heretics and let them support the reapers and waited for 2 years to get any real information about either of them just doesn’t fit with how data-hungry they are.
> 
> So here’s an AU. Legion was created by the Geth right after the heretics left. Its task wasn’t to follow Shepard around, obviously, but to keep up with the heretics and learn more about the Old Machines. This means that during the events of ME1, Legion is visiting a lot of the same places as Shepard. (Obviously, since they keep bumping into one another, the True Geth become interested in Shepard, and assign keeping tabs on her as one of Legion’s duties.) I’ve written up encounters with Legion for several of the main ME1 missions, and have included an alternate introduction scene for ME2 on Alchera. I’m only going to give you this intro scene here, as its the most polished. Most of the fic is Shepard’s thoughts and feelings during the Alchera mission. I’ve given you this background so that when she runs into Legion, you understand its an alternate timeline, which makes things make sense. I'm using a friend's Layla Shepard - Paragon, FemShep, War Hero, Spacer.

She had wanted to come alone. Coming to terms with her own death was difficult. Everyone else had been given two years to mourn her, but Shepard hadn’t even been able to breath. One moment she was being blasted out the side of the wrecked Normandy, locking eyes with Joker as the escape pod disappeared and left her to her death, and the next moment she was shooting mechs on a Cerberus base. Now more than ever, she was convinced there was no afterlife. She would never be reunited with her father, no matter what Ash had said about heaven. Those who were dead stayed dead. It took her so long to even step off the shuttle, and more than once she almost started it up and returned to the Normandy without even opening the door. She hated this. She didn’t want to experience this, as if opening the door and stepping into the snow would somehow confirm what had happened.

Shepard finally stepped out, wishing her armor could protect her from more than just bullets. She wandered the surface slowly, surveying the wreckage. Maybe she’d been wrong, and _this_ was the afterlife. The place certainly had an ethereal quality to it. She couldn’t tell if it was day or night for the snow clouds, and the wind whipped around her hair. At least her final resting spot had been more beautiful than a military grave yard, where she always thought that she’d end up. She saw something glinting, and turned to investigate. A dog tag, one of the engineers from the lower decks. She slipped it into a pocket and kept looking, remembering her promise to Hackett that she would find them for the families of those who had been lost. What about her family? Had her mother ever gotten her tags? She felt her eyes grow hot and choked back tears when she thought of what Hannah had gone through. Part of her wished they’d just let her rest in peace, she could think of no more fitting place than this.

She rushed back to the shuttle and stepped inside, closing the door on the strange planet. There, she let herself begin to cry, now that she was alone. She breathed the familiar scent of industrial rubber and hid her face in her hands. Maybe there was an afterlife, but it wasn’t this planet. Maybe she wasn’t even herself, only an AI that thought it was Commander Shepard. Maybe the real Shepard was already in the afterlife, reunited with Presley, Ashley, Nihlus, Jenkins, her father and all the others. If that was true, than who was she? She drew a breath, getting a hold on herself. It didn’t matter if she was real or not, she told herself. Whether or not she was the original Shepard, she was Commander Shepard now. She slipped back out of the shuttle, knowing it wouldn’t be the last time she’d have to retreat to it before this little jaunt was over.

Her footprints crisscrossed the snow now, as she gathered dog tags and planted the monument that the Alliance had wanted to place there. It was shiny and twinkling, and looked wrong. It ruined the untouched nature of the place. Turning her back on it, she moved along the edge of a glacier, picking up yet another dog tag. Something caught her eye- a black helmet, sitting on top of the ice.  
Her helmet. For a moment she froze, unsure if she wanted to touch it, but in the end she picked it up. Why hadn’t it been buried by the snow? Most of the dog tags around here were protected from burial by the wreckage, but this had been sitting out…

She looked down and noticed that the ice had been chipped away recently. In the snow was a set of tracks that was not her own. It had two long toes. A Quarian?  what would a Quarian be doing here? Helmet under one arm, she drew a small pistol, following them. Her heart was pounding now. Whatever was going on, she felt some anger and spite at the idea that anyone would disturb this place. She wondered what they’d been digging for when they unearthed her helmet, clearly it hadn’t interested them, as it had been tossed aside.

Shepard rounded the edge of the glacier and heard a sound like rushing wind and the crackle of the sparks. There was a low ledge of ice, and she took cover, still feeling territorial. Who the hell had the nerve to come here? Finally, she peaked.  
A Geth. It was sitting on the ground, leaning against the side of the glacier while it welded something to cover a hole in its right side. She recognized the black casing on the unit, and the hole it was (finally) repairing. This was the same geth that had been dogging her for her entire investigation into Saren. It had never been hostile to her, though it had a habit of vanishing whenever she caught it.  
Her possessiveness over this place melted away, as did her surprise. Two years later, why had it come here? She was dead. There was no reason to…  
Her eyes focused sharply as the Geth shifted, exposing what it had been patching itself with. N7 armor.

She knew what it had been digging for when it tossed her helmet away- this piece of armor, which it was so meticulously patching itself with. Her throat caught in a way she couldn’t quite explain. She felt… like a voyeur as she spied over the rocks. This Geth had waited for well over two years to patch itself up, leaving it vulnerable to attack, until it had finally found a piece of her armor to use. Maybe it wouldn’t have meant so much if… if her armor wasn’t basically her skin. It was a part of herself, she never left the ship without it. Was she reading too much into this? It was hard to see how she could be. Without the significance of her armor, its actions made no sense. That was how she knew that this was a deeply personal moment for the Geth. It felt weird to think that, but… well, she was open minded. If the Geth could worship in a temple, why couldn’t they have personal moments like this?

Shepard got to her feet, gun at the low ready. She still didn’t trust this thing. She thought that she should announce herself, considering the private nature of what was happening, but she couldn’t find the words. As she approached, the Geth looked up at her, pausing its welding for a moment.  
“Shepard Commander.” It said. It looked into her eyes for a long, intense moment, and then back to its chest as it finished up the welding job.

She was speechless for a long time, but finally, felt that she could put the gun away. “You.” She stated simply. “What… what are you doing?”

“There was a hole.” the Geth stated, getting to its feet now the job was done. Shepard just stared at it, unable to come up with a retort. There was a hole in her, too.


End file.
